Abstract

This article enumerates the five factors that influence longevity, with its attendant impact on the life settlement industry. We are at the apex of the longevity growth curve. It may increase slightly over the next 10 years, and then it will drop quite dramatically in the following years. As longevity declines, to the extent professional longevity estimates used by the life settlement industry are reduced at a slower rate than the actual changes in longevity, investors in life settlements may see opportunities to arbitrage those longevity estimates and increase their yields.